Jim Maas column: Maybe Toro the dog got sick of fighting the drug war

A marijuana plant grows on one of the sites of a pot-growing operation seized in the Chequamegon -Nicolet National Forest. Gannett Wisconsin Media A marijuana plant grows on one of the sites of a pot-growing operation seized by federal and state law enforcement agencies in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest near White Lake. File/Gannett Wisconsin Media A marijuana plant grows on one of the sites of a pot-growing operation seized by federal and state law enforcement agencies in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest near White Lake on September 6, 2012. / Lukas Keapproth

The War on Drugs has turned ordinary, cheap plants like cannabis, also known as marijuana, into fantastically lucrative black market products. Drug prohibition is a scam. I'm thinking maybe Toro, the runaway drug dog from Wood County, may be smarter than he appears. Maybe Toro decided to join Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (http://www.leap.cc). Run, Toro, run!

The recent Daily Herald Media story, "Weed Wars," was very interesting and educational. The story of a veteran suffering from PTSD and arthritis illustrates how much the government cares about sick people. The vet could legally obtain an addictive opiate to ease his pain - but using a safer alternative, cannabis, got him kicked out of that VA program. And that left him to self-medicate with alcohol or cannabis.

Vets complain that the drugs the VA gives them to treat various ailments "zombify" them and they can't function well. Are politicians so addicted to support from Big Pharma that they forget about our combat veterans?

But things may be slowly changing. Despite decades of government propaganda, the people are growing tired of spending millions of dollars and thousands of lives wasted with no change in rates of drug use. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have approved physician-prescribed cannabis. Many afflictions have been treated with it for thousands of years. Polls indicate about half the people now would prefer to treat marijuana use like alcohol. More than 70 percent support medical cannabis.

Sounds promising, but Obama promised to leave the medicinal marijuana states alone, as the Constitution requires, and the Department of Justice has reneged on that promise. It's a deception that continues to ruin lives.

At the local level, many counties and cities have demonstrated that they care more for their citizens than decrees from Washington. For example, in 2002, the Marathon County Board approved an ordinance that made possession of a small amount of cannabis a civil violation rather than a misdemeanor. Keeping it local would mean any fine money would remain in the county rather than going to the state and there would be no criminal record for a first offense.

"I think it's a great start," said then-public defender (now judge) Mike Moran, who hoped that the ordinance would free up resources for real crimes.

Regular folks naturally assume that our county supervisors create and control how our laws are enforced. Yet citizens continue to be charged with marijuana possession "crimes," and the fines continue to be sent off to Madison. The county's public safety committee claims it can't (or won't) control the district attorney, who is an elected official. I have requested an explanation from the DA office and patiently look forward to a response.

According to his office's mission statement, "District Attorney Ken Heimerman and his staff are committed to safety and justice for the residents of the county community."

Our laws continue to target citizens who make a rational choice to medicate or recreate with a substance that is objectively safer, both to the user and to society as a whole, than many expensive, government approved pharmaceuticals or alcohol. Reform is coming, whether they like it or not. Drug prohibition, not drugs, damages our society. Like Toro, let's just say no.

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Jim Maas column: Maybe Toro the dog got sick of fighting the drug war

The War on Drugs has turned ordinary, cheap plants like cannabis, also known as marijuana, into fantastically lucrative black market products. Drug prohibition is a scam.

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